Womyn’s Commission Art Lock-In Sets Talents Free

Gauchos gathered in the Student Resource Building on Jan. 29 for an Art Lock-In hosted by the Associated Students Womyn’s Commission. All students were welcome to participate between the hours of 7 PM to midnight and make use of any of the materials available in order to express their creativity and practice self-care.

Upon entering the multi-purpose room in the SRB, students were presented with a wide array of paints, canvases, markers, pencils, and collage materials with the freedom to craft whatever they pleased. Though the event name may be deceiving, participants were not literally locked in, but rather were encouraged to stay for as long as they pleased in order to fully immerse themselves into their creations. Second-year STEM major and Co-Chair of the Womyn’s Commission, Ximena Garcia, helped organize the affair as a follow-up to a successful Women and the Arts Mixer held in the previous week.

“[The Art Lock-In] is a de-stressor for some people because it’s just light-hearted and fun,” said Garcia. “But for other people, it’s a great way to get in touch with a part of themselves that they might not be able to express on a day-to-day basis in an academic setting.”

Participants were seen smiling and laughing with each other while engaged with their individual projects.

“I came to the Art Lock-In not knowing what to really expect,” said Ciara Klerekoper, a first-year economics major. “It sounded like an interesting and fun thing to do so I just stopped by for a little bit. I was surprised by how therapeutic the event was in the midst of studying for my midterms. It was a much needed break from constantly working so hard.”

Participants were also offered the opportunity to have their work published in the Womyn’s Commission’s annual Herstory Magazine upon attending this event.

“If artistically inclined students wanted to submit some work, we accept photography, prose, poetry, fiction, and nonfiction,” said Garcia. “It is a great way to showcase female identified and the allied artist on campus and in the community. Female identified artists tend to live in the shadow of male identified artists. It’s all about building a support group.”

To build a sense of community, the Art Lock-In also featured a group art project that was open to everyone.

“We have a communal poem where everyone gets to put a couplet to build off each other,” said Garcia. “It’s a very specific, very creative way for people to come together and then we can see it tangibly forever because it’s on paper.”

The Womyn’s Commission will be hosting many more events as part of their mixer series, such as Women in the Arts, Women in STEM, and Women in the Humanities and Social Sciences.